Nothing
by virihu
Summary: How would Megan react to Walter's car accident, especially after finding out about everything leading up to it? Warning: This one's angsty.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

This story was just something that I couldn't get out of my head after watching _Cliffhanger_ and the preview for next week. It takes place sometime during/after _Postcards From the Edge_. I wondered how Megan might feel or react to Walter being injured in the wreck, especially after finding out everything leading up to it. I have a younger brother to whom I am close, and I was trying to think of how I would react if I were in her place. This is what resulted from my musing.

This is my first fic in over 12 years. I wasn't that good at it to begin with; so, if it's terrible, please try not to flame me into oblivion. Constructive criticism and encouragement are equally welcome.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own any of the characters mentioned in the story. I wish I did, but, sadly, that is not the case.

* * *

Megan hobbled through the hospital corridor. She cursed her crutches. They always slowed her down, but she couldn't afford the delay. Walter was injured, and no one would tell her how severely or how it happened. Toby's explanation was brief, telling her only that Walter was injured and that she needed to get to the hospital quickly.

When she entered the waiting room, Paige and Ralph were sitting just inside the door. Paige looked almost as though she was in prayer, and Ralph stared numbly into space. Sylvester was sitting a few seats down from them staring at the opposite wall. Much like Ralph, he looked miles away and on the verge of tears. At the far end of the room, Cabe was pacing the floor, worry written clearly on his weathered face. She saw Toby and Happy sitting across from Paige and Ralph. They weren't speaking. Happy's expression was unreadable as she sat with her arms crossed over her chest. Toby just looked tired. They all looked up when she entered the room.

"He's in surgery," Toby said. He then placed his head in his hands and said no more.

"What happened?" she asked desperately.

Toby looked back up and spoke. "Walter was driving at a high rate of speed in the Hollywood Hills when he lost control of the vehicle, and it went over a cliff. We're not sure how it happened. We won't know until he wakes up. He was severely injured in the crash, and he was unconscious when the paramedics loaded him into the ambulance. That's all we know right now."

Megan knew the situation was bad when Toby called her, but she never thought it could be this bad. Thoughts scrambled through her head in such rapid succession she became dizzy and sank into the nearest chair. When he saw her teeter, Cabe ran across the room to steady her. She thanked him, and he returned to his previous spot and began pacing again.

The dizzying thoughts continued to buzz through her head as she sat with the team. The one unifying thought that could not be drowned out by the others was:

"How? Walter's an excellent driver. Even if he was driving fast, it would take a lot for him to lose control."

She didn't realize she had spoken her thoughts aloud until she looked up to see everyone looking at her with guilty expressions painted across their faces. She instantly knew that there was something important, something** big**, that they weren't telling her.

"Toby," she said in a steely, calm tone that surprised even her, "I want to know everything that happened, every little detail. Do I make myself clear?"

She paused for a breath. Breathing was becoming difficult through the flood of emotions she was feeling

"I want to know, now, or so help me..." She trailed off through gritted teeth.

The rest of her companions sat completely still, some with expressions of apprehension on their faces, others with barely muted horror.

"I don't know where to begin," Toby sighed, clutching his hat between his shaking fingers.

"The beginning," Megan stated with a finality that left no doubt that she would not let this go until she got to the truth.

Toby sighed and looked around the room before he began. As Toby told her the events of the day, her heart began to sink. Her steely gaze flashed briefly to Cabe when Toby relayed Cabe's betrayal and the scene in the command center. Cabe avoided her gaze and continued pacing.

When Toby told her about Ralph's stunt in the incinerator shaft, Ralph shifted uncomfortably in his chair but said nothing. Megan really felt for Paige; she had no idea how she would have reacted in the same situation.

Then, Toby got to the argument between Walter and Paige. He shifted uncomfortably and clutched his hat a little tighter in his grasp. It was then that Megan knew that this was the reason for the guilty expressions. This was what they did not want her to know.

As Toby relayed the argument, Megan's gazed shifted to Paige. Paige shifted guiltily, knowing that the next few sentences would change everything. Any sympathy Megan felt for the young mother was burned away in anger as she pictured Walter's broken expression as he asked Paige, _Is it so awful being me? Being around me?_ Her expression turned cold when she heard Paige's reply.

Toby continued his explanation of the events leading up to her entrance into the waiting room, but Megan wasn't listening. It didn't really matter anyway. She pictured her baby brother hurtling down the road at insane speeds trying to outrun the pain he was feeling. She imagined him losing control and crashing over the cliff, and her blood ran cold.

"...and that's when I called you," Toby finished, snapping Megan back to the present.

Everyone in the room waited for Megan to speak. The tension in the room was palpable. She sat in silence until, at last, she calmly spoke.

"I see."

Toby and Happy looked at each other. Considering their slightly stunned expressions, Megan's reaction was, obviously, not the reaction they were expecting. Paige and Sylvester wore similarly confused expressions. Cabe stopped pacing and looked on darkly from the other side of the room. It was obvious that he knew this wasn't the end of it.

Turning to Ralph, she plastered a cheery smile on her face and asked him, "Ralph, sweetie, could you do me a favor? Could you go with Sylvester to the cafeteria to get something to eat for me? I haven't eaten anything since this morning, and I'm starting to get really hungry. Would you do that for me?"

Ralph, sensing the tension in the room, looked to Paige.

"It's ok, sweetie. Go with Sylvester," she said running her hand through his hair.

Once Sylvester and Ralph turned the corner at the end of the corridor, Megan shifted her hard gaze to Cabe and Paige, but, when she spoke, she spoke to Happy and Toby.

"Would you excuse us? I'd like to talk to Paige and Cabe alone, please?"

Her hard tone left no room for argument, but Toby, toying with his hat, spoke softly with a hint of fear in his voice.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said hesitatingly. "I really think we should stay. Just to make sure things don't get out of hand."

Happy nodded and then visibly cringed when Megan's voice came out icily.

"As you wish."

Happy leaned toward Toby and whispered, "Not good."

Megan stared down Cabe and Paige. Cabe remained guarded but, seemingly, unfazed. Paige, however, fidgeted in her seat until she could no longer take the silence.

"Megan, I-"

Megan's glare stopped her dead in her tracks. Paige leaned back in her chair as if trying to put as much distance between herself and the seething woman in front of her.

"You're not going to talk. You're going to listen," Megan bit out.

"Megan-" Paige tried again.

"**I. DON'T. CARE. ABOUT YOUR REASONS!**" she seethed. "Your reasons will mean nothing to me if I have to bury him!

"I understand that Ralph is your son. I understand that he is the most important thing to you, but your actions"-she looked between Paige and Cabe-"may cause me to lose the most important thing to **me**!"

Megan rose from her chair, and, as the tears she had been holding back started to spill over, she continued.

"I have watched over Walter, loved him, since the day I first held him in my arms over thirty years ago. Ralph may be your baby, but Walter is mine, and I may lose him because of your deceit"-she glared at Cabe-"and your thoughtlessness"-she moved her glare back to Paige-"So, I don't care about your reasons. They won't mean anything if he's gone. Not to **me**!"

At the end of her speech, Megan was shaking so badly she could barely stand. She burst into heartrending sobs, and Toby and Happy rushed over to ease her back into her chair.

Cabe sat down abruptly and put his head in his hands. Paige, her own tears streaming silently down her face, looked at the heartbroken woman in front of her. Neither she nor Cabe said anything. What could they say in the face of pain like that?

What **is** there to say?

**Nothing.**

* * *

I think that Megan would recognize Paige's reasons for doing what she did, but I think that, in the end, it wouldn't matter to her because Megan could losing someone she loves every bit as much as Paige loves Ralph. It's easy to be sympathetic until it's your loved one. That was just my take on it. I hope I got that across.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note:

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I really appreciate your comments and encouragements. I, originally, planned for this story to be only one chapter. However one of the guest reviewers mentioned that Megan's response was somewhat confusing because it seemed more maternal than sisterly; so, I decided to write a second chapter to try to clarify why I wrote it that way. My headcanon for this show is surprisingly extensive; so, DB, I hope this explains it a little.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own any of the characters mentioned in the story. I wish I did, but, sadly, that is not the case.

* * *

Megan sat quietly in the waiting room chair. Her eyes were closed tightly, deep in thought. She'd been sitting there for what seemed like hours; it could have been mere minutes for all she knew…or cared.

_Still no word_, she thought.

Her tears had long slowed and finally come to a stop. The anger and the despair were gone. Only numbness remained.

Despite the numbness, her thoughts continued to race through her head. They wouldn't stop. She chuckled mirthlessly. _Maybe this is how Walter feels_, she thought, _always thinking with no cessation of thought even when he's too tired to think anymore_.

_No wonder he never sleeps_, she mused tiredly.

Paige had taken Ralph home shortly after he and Sly returned from the cafeteria. The sandwich they had brought for her remained untouched on the table beside her. She couldn't bring herself to eat it.

Sylvester sat beside her, staring into space as before. His thoughts were, surprisingly, well hidden, but she had too many of her own buzzing around in her head to worry too much about what was going on in his. She knew she would feel really bad about that later, but right now, she was too tired and too numb to care very much.

Toby and Happy sat across from them. Happy's expression was, again, unreadable, and Toby's had gone from tired to exhausted. She could tell that they were watching her closely, though. Anytime she shifted in her chair, they perked up, no doubt looking to see if she needed anything. They were both drained, but they were still watching over her for Walter's sake. She didn't think she could be more thankful for their friendship toward Walter than she was at this moment.

While one of her problems had taken Ralph home to sleep, the other one sat stubbornly at the other end of the room. She had hoped that her occasional icy glares would give him the hint that he was unwelcome in her presence, but Cabe either missed the hint or, more likely, didn't care that she wanted him gone. He continued, as he had since she entered the waiting room, alternating between pacing the floor and sitting silently with his head in his hands, staring at his shoes.

She knew, in the back of her mind, that she was probably being far too hard on Paige and Cabe. _Well, maybe not Cabe_, she thought as the anger, again, rose in her breast while she turned the situation over in her mind.

However, with Walter's life still hanging in the balance, she couldn't bring herself to forgive them. It's true that Walter's decision to drive was stupid, idiotic even, but if they hadn't said what they said, he would never have picked up the keys that night. So, whether she was justified in her anger or not, she was still angry…very angry.

In a way, Cabe's betrayal didn't surprise her. He'd done it before, but Paige…well, Paige was another thing entirely. She sympathized with Paige until she heard what Paige said to Walter. It was unnecessary, almost cruel. With the case bringing back so much guilt and Cabe's betrayal to top it, Walter was already vulnerable, and, then, Paige stabbed him in the heart and abandoned him as if he meant nothing. Megan hadn't seen that coming and, apparently, neither had Walter.

Megan didn't know if she could forgive Paige for that. _If he dies, I will __**never**__ forgive her. I can promise that_, she thought darkly.

She wanted, desperately, to sleep, but she couldn't stop turning the situation over in her mind, looking at it from every angle. The fact that there was still no word on Walter's condition only made the turmoil in her mind that much worse.

A thought suddenly struck her. _What if he's already dead? _

_No, I can't think that way. Walter needs me to be strong_, she thought as her eyes started to fill with tears that she desperately tried to keep from falling and alerting her companions to the dark turn her thoughts had taken, _I just need to breath. That's all._

Toby looked at her closely, and she tried to smile to ease his anxiety. He didn't look convinced, but he remained silent for which she was thankful.

She allowed her thoughts to drift back to much older memories. She remembered the first time she held Walter. She had wanted a baby sister, and she had been so mad that she had gotten a baby brother instead. He was three months old and so tiny. He looked like a little doll. As he looked up at her, blinking curiously, she thought that, maybe, having a little brother wouldn't be so bad after all.

She remembered her father telling her that Walter would need her to protect him because he wasn't going to be like the other children. She didn't understand, at the time, what that meant. Her father told her, later, that the doctors told them that because Walter was born too soon, he wouldn't develop like other children. His ability to learn would be hampered, and he wouldn't be able to relate to others the way normal children could.

_Well, they were half right_, she thought cheerlessly.

As Walter grew up, it was clear that he wasn't connecting to the world. Her parents thought he was "slow", as they put it, because he never said anything, but Megan knew better. He was brilliant, she knew, but he just couldn't tell anyone.

Once her parents finally realized that Walter was, in fact, a genius, they were still at a loss. They had a son that was the opposite of "slow", but they still did not know what to do with him. Her mother tried desperately to connect with Walter, but nothing worked.

Megan was the only person in to world to which Walter connected. She was the only person that he confided in or trusted. She was the person to which he clung when he was frightened or didn't understand the world around him.

_And what if he's gone? What will I do?_ She thought suddenly, snapping her thoughts back to the present.

The tears that threatened to fall earlier now fell unheeded as the pain of that thought shook her to her very core. Her companions, sensing her distress, looked up as she began to cry harder. They were at a loss.

There was nothing they could do to comfort her, nothing they could say to ease the pain.

**Nothing.**

* * *

To explain things a little further, in _Shorthanded_, Walter says that Cabe "filled a void" in his life. In _Dominoes_, Walter mentions that his mother didn't understand him when she bought the kite for him for Christmas. I think that Walter's mother tried to connect with him, but, for whatever reason, couldn't; so, I think that Megan filled the maternal void in Walter's life because she was the only female that could, successfully, connect with him.

I hope that explanation makes sense. It does in my head. Like I said, serious headcanon.

I don't know if I will continue this one or not. If I do, I will not attempt to canonize it after tomorrow night's episode; so, it'll just have to be AU.

Thanks again for all of the nice reviews. You guys are awesome.


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